Mo'o 'Ala- The Mighty Primate King
This is a reiteration of the classic tale of '''Dragon Ball' in a new light. The terrain of the world is now an archipelago, not dissimilar to that of Polynesia, Indonesia, and the Hawai'ian islands.'' Book One: The War Ra Makimaki, the Monkey King A bright sun shone over a warm beach as a gentle breeze blew through the palm trees' leaves. Except for lush, tropical greenery, clear turquoise waters, and pale white sands, the strip of land was barren, all except for one boy. This boy was none of ordinary blessings. Despite being noticeably young, thin, and short, the boy held quite a bit of power, equal to that of ten ordinary men at just his young age. As attest to his marvels, the boy is now returning to his lone home on his lonely island with a feast fit for himself, an entire giant oyster, both larger and heavier than himself, which he lifts above his head with ease. Even with his great strength, the boy was not average for another reason. He would never be able to hide amongst a crowd, for he possessed a fifth appendage, a long, black tail, quite like that of the howler monkeys seen quite often on the islands in the archipelago. It was this boy that would someday become a savior of the entire world, and perhaps even more. For this boy, of no ordinary blessings, has gone down in myths and legends. For he is known by all who have heard of him as Ra Makimaki, the Monkey King. As Ra continued, carrying his prize back to his small hale(1), he noticed a shift in the air. There was a presence, the feeling that something was about to happen. "Ho! Is anybody there?" Ra called out, looking behind him. He wasn't met with an answer, so cautiously, he continued back to his home. The hale was little more than a thatch hut made from pili grass and supported by a low wood-frame structure. Inside was only a mud floor and a small grass rug bearing most of Ra's possessions. On it were a few wood awls armed with serrated shark teeth, grass rope, a basalt pestle, a small wood 'Olo(2), and his greatest possession of all, a clear yellow stone with four red stars in it given to him by his late grandfather. Young Ra, after putting down his oyster, sat down cross-legged on the bare ground before the stone. "Hey, Grandpa, I found a whole oyster today!" Ra said towards the stone, his head bent down and his eyes closed. Ever since the day he died, Ra spoke to the stone of his grandfather, believing there to be some connection in it. It was in these moments that the young boy, all alone, felt that his grandfather was still there, that he wasn't all alone. This peace was soon cut abrupt, however. In the distance, towards the beach, a deafening sound broke the still silence that always blanketed the tiny island of Ra Makimaki. The water could be heard being chopped around as a chugging sound similar to thousands of mini explosions neared the beach. "I-It was nice talking to you, Grandpa!" Ra exclaimed, grabbing the 'Olo and dashing out of the hut. Through the trees, the cause of the sound could not be seen, yet it all the same could be heard. Ra dashed through the trees, reaching incredible speeds as he dodge one palm trunk after another. He then broke the treeline and was running on soft white sands. The source of the cacophony was soon revealed, as a small, thin, sail-less boat zoomed towards the beach at impossible speeds. "Wh-What kind of boat is that?!" exclaimed Ra, not believing his eyes. The sea-craft was faster than any canoe or outrigger that his grandfather had shown him, and this one didn't even have a sail. As the craft was rapidly speeding towards the beach, Ra received a better look at it. The boat was shiny and white, clearly not made of wood. It was manned by just one figure, a thin, weak-looking person, who wasn't even rowing the craft, much less be able to row at all. In seconds, the boat was at the shore. The figure that came out was incredibly thin for someone of their height, and a little weird looking. He was more curved, almost slender, with long hair. The figure wore weird clothing: a red cloth that came around their entire torso and arms, blue tough-looking leggings that were separated down the middle, and wood pads under their feet. He took off the wooden pads and rolled up the sleeves of the blue leggings to below his knees before hopping out of the strange boat. He then began wading towards the shore. "Who are you?!" Ra called out, alarmed. He had not seen another person since his grandfather died. There was no answer. The figure merely took something out of a fold in their robe and looked at it as they continued through the surf. Ra hesitated. In his entire life, the only person he had ever seen on the island was his grandpa. Other than that, save for the monthly trips they would take to a nearby village on another island via outrigger, Ra was completely deprived of interaction with other people. He had no idea what this stranger wanted, whether he came with good or bad intentions. His grandpa had taught Ra many things, though, and of those things was how to be a warrior. Even without a weapon, the child could fight. And fight he would, for if this person came to take his island, young Ra would do whatever it would take to defend his only home. "Fine, if you won't talk, then I'll let fists do the talking!" Ra shouted, puffing out his chest. He summoned the courage and pride of the warrior, the way Grandpa had taught him, and lowered his stance, ready to charge. The intruder did not seem to notice and only walked forward, continuing to stare intently at whatever it was they brought out from their robes. Not waiting for a reply, though, Ra charged. The surf splashed around him as he ran faster than anyone could think possible towards this unknown person, foreign to his island. With his head ducked down and his eyes closed, Ra was blind to his surroundings. However, as he neared his target, Ra looked, expecting to see a villain ready to fight back. What he saw instead, however, shocked him. He stopped dead in his tracks, or tried to, and ended up slipping in the waist high warm waters that surrounded the coast of his island. Before young Ra Makimaki was no highway man or foreign soldier, at least not any that matched what Ra could imagine what one looked like. The figure, both taller and slenderer than Ra, and presumably older, did not look like a man. He had no tattoos marking his passage into manhood, that even Ra had at such a young age. He bore none of the bulk that was to be expected of a wayfarer of the ocean; his arms looked to be as thin as Ra's tail. His body was curvier, with two lumps on his chest where a defined chest should be. It was weird to see how he covered his body in such weird garments, as if they were constricting around him. They looked stiff and hard, restricting movement. The figure's face had softer features, thinner eyebrows, kinder eyes, more pronounced lips. This man, or boy, was no warrior or pirate, at least not a successful one. Yet he came from such a weird boat, now that Ra had an even better look at it. It was too wide to be a canoe, and had no oars. Instead, it had a wheel mounted to the inside of the front and a black box at the end. It was made of no material that Ra had ever seen, with a white outside that shone brighter than the dead corals that washed up onto his beach. There was a band of some transparent substance in the front of it, as if a billion sand crystals were melded into one long, thin one. Yet the boat was not what stole Ra's breath, it was the man. This person perplexed the young child, he had never imagined a person could look like this. "H-How did you do that?" a voice came from the figure. It was much higher, with a lighter tone, and a different accent, than that of Ra's. Yet even though he could hear the figure's words, it was an entire different thing to understand them, in the state that Ra was left in by the figure's mere voice. "Hello? Can you understand me?" asked the figure again, a little less startled. The boy had appeared out of nowhere, after all. "Wh-Who are you?" asked Ra, snapping out of his trance. His gaze had fixed upon the mounds on this man's chest, as if they were coconuts or smooth breadfruit. "Oh, I-I'm Palema'i. I'm sorry to intrude, I thought this island was deserted," came the answer of this stranger. "It's alright, besides me, no one lives here," replied Ra. Even then, he was still transfixed on just how different this person was. "Really? How come you're all by yourself?" he asked. "My grandpa once lived here with me, but he's dead now. I live here alone," said Ra. He felt that he could trust this person, and besides, this was the first person that Ra had spoken to in years. He savored every second of it. "Oh, I'm sorry.." the figure replied, looking down. "It's alright, but, I have a question," Ra said to this person. "Yeah?" "Why do you look so weird?" "What do you mean?" asked the figure, shocked. "You don't look like any person I've ever seen. You're much thinner, and you look softer, and bumpier," Ra told the figure. His isolation had deprived the young Ra of much refinery, including manners and basic social interaction. "Well, obviously. That's because I'm a girl," replied the figure. "Wait, you're a g-girl?!" exclaimed Ra. Being sheltered as a child had not only deprived the young boy of certain social skills, he also had never seen a member of the opposite gender before. He had, of course, heard of girls, yet he had never seen one. "Well, duh. Wait, have you never seen a girl before?" asked Palema'i. "No, the last time that I left this island was many years ago," started Ra. "Back when my grandpa lived with me, we would sometimes leave the island to go to a city close by. I was really young then, and I don't remember it much though." "So that means you've been pretty much void of social interaction for almost your entire life, huh?" the stranger asked. "Yeah, you could say that. I've been fine, really. The island is great!" Ra exclaimed. Despite being alone for several years, he could still look upon his years of solitude happily. The boy was so light-hearted in nature, he was as equally light in the head. Ignorance is bliss, after all. The two youths' conversation was soon interrupted, however, as a great rumbling sound, much more powerful than Palema'i's boat, loomed in the distance. The outline of a gigantic boat could be seen over the horizon, infinitely larger than the small motorboat as if it stood out as an island of its own. "What is that?!" Ra exclaimed. The boy had been virtually undisturbed on his peaceful island for many years, yet on this one strange, eventful day, he meets not only another human being, who is also of the opposite sex, but he catches sight of a boat that seemed to tower over any monster that could inhabit the ocean. "That ship, that's a war ship! We need to hide!" Palema'i exclaimed. If even this mysterious city girl who seemed to know everything was afraid, then Ra seemed to have every reason to be afraid as well. "We can go into my hut! It's very deep in the palm forests!" offered Ra. He began to dash off, yet as he looked back to make sure his new acquaintance was following him, he realized she was around a hundred meters behind him. "C'mon, what's taking you so long?" Ra called out. "How did you run that fast? You're a freak!" Palema'i shrieked. Just then, Ra Makimaki's tail, which had been wrapped around his waist as if it were a belt, un-winded and stood out. "Is-Is that a tail?!" she exclaimed. "What? You don't have one?" Ra asked, puzzled. He hadn't noticed this character's lack of a lower appendage; he had simply assumed it as such a basic part of a human's body. It may have crossed him that perhaps she had it hidden somewhere, but apparently that was not the case. The rumbling from the beach soon came to halt as the mighty ship docked off shore. The massive boat was over four times as tall as the tallest palm trees, clad mightily in gray steel. Long pipes jetted out of each side menacingly, as if they were prepared to attack at a moment's notice. "Are you coming or not?!" Ra shouted out one final time. Palema'i stood stuck in her tracks, cowering. Finally, she made up her mind. She started sprinting after Ra, though at a noticeable slower pace. Ra waited until she reached him before continuing to run, at a slower pace so she could keep up with him, though. However, he was still way faster than the girl. As they continued running, a small break in the trees signaled the location of Ra's hut. The ramshackle mud and thatch structure stood their unimpressively. As Ra went towards the hut, though, his new friend was less than impressed with the actuality of Ra's home. "That's it? This is your hut? How are we supposed to hide in this?!" Palema'i exclaimed. The dingy mud hale was nothing to behold, almost unnoticeable if someone wasn't looking for it. "Maybe they won't spot it. It's a little hard to see from afar," Ra replied. "I am not going in there.There's gotta be a better place on this tiny island," she retorted back. "C'mon, if you wanna hide, this is the best place you've got!" Ra said, trying to persuade her. Other than the white beaches, the palm forests that surround the island, and a small rocky hill towards the center, there was nothing else on Ra's island. The only hiding to be done was in plain sight. "No, I'm going towards the center. There could be some caves or rocks to hide behind," she said. "No, there isn't! Come back!" Ra shouted at her. But the girl wouldn't listen to him, she simply kept running to the hills. The massive ship could be seen through the small forest, and more urgently, a small dinghy could be seen making its way towards the shore from the ship. On it were four menacing looking men, clad in green armor. These people wore militant masks and looked nothing like Ra's earlier visitor. Rather than make a break for his hut, though, as he was planning to, he decided to go back after Palema'i. If these people were truly as bad as Palema'i made them seem to be, then Ra didn't want anything bad to happen to her. He rushed up to the hill and in no time found her huddled in a rocky crevice, shielded from sight by just one large boulder. "So you decided to join me after all?" spat Palema'i. "Those people are coming onto the island and they'll find you here. Why don't you just fight them?" asked Ra. "Fight them?" she asked, bewildered. "They have guns, kid. I'm just a girl, I can't fight," she said. "What's a gun?" Ra asked. "You're truly hopeless, kid," Palema'i replied back. "I'll fight them, then. They can't be that strong," said Ra, radiating confidence. "You? You're just a puny kid!" she exclaimed. "You saw what I can do. If that's not normal, then I guess they can't do it either, then. I've been trained in Lua(3), after all," replied Ra. Something about this strange tailed youth seemed both menacing and humorous, and relatively powerful. An air of confidence shrouded him, but not to the extent of arrogance. This balance of powers that was Ra Makimaki was not something to be overlooked. Even to Palema'i, who doubted the boy, had some glimmer of hope that he could beat these people. Whether Ra could defeat these people in battle or not no longer mattered, though, as the sound of oncoming footsteps through the sand signaled the approach of the soldiers. Ra Makimaki braced himself, ready to defend his island from intruders, for real this time. Out of the trees, the footsteps ended as six soldiers, clad head to toe in green camouflage armor and armed with guns, entered the center of the island. The Ancient Technique of Lua Ra Makimaki stared down his opponents, six soldiers of foreign origin bearing arms on his island. According to his new acquaintance Palema'i, these men were evil and to be feared. The boy heeded these warnings, and despite holding no weapons of his own, faced the intruders down, ready to fight. Instead of gunfire, though, the first exchange between the two parties was of words. "We mean no harm, native. Turn over the girl and we won't attack," said one of the men. "Why should I?" asked Ra. "She is a violator of the Non-Crossing Agreement between our two nations. We merely mean to take her into custody for due process of the law," said the same soldier. As their faces were hidden with masks, Ra could see no sign of emotion from these men. They were staggeringly tall, especially to Ra as he was merely a child. Ra exchanged a questioning glance with Palema'i, and knew right away that these men were telling the truth. Before he could speak, though, Palema'i butted in. "You soldiers are violating the Native Rights Treaty yourselves, though, docking a ship of war on an un-allied island." "We're following orders, kid, and you're breaking our laws. I suggest you turn yourself in or else we'll have to hurt you and your friend," said the same soldier again. "Why are we bargaining with children? Just take the girl already," advised one of the soldiers to his Captain. "Silence, Sergeant," said the first one. "Are you surrendering or not? The United Haole(4) Nations does not compromise with foreign civilians." "I don't know what it is you're talking about, but you're not taking anyone away! Now beat it, or else I'll fight you myself," said Ra, interrupting the militants. "Alright kid, we're through messing around!" shouted the Sergeant. He loaded his gun and fired a round of bullets at the young boy. Ra had only enough time to react to throw his arms up over his face in an attempt to shield himself from this strange device. The impact of the bullets, though, smack into Ra, toppling him over. This happened so fast that at first the soldier thought he had killed the boy. However, the bullets hadn't even pierced the incredibly resilient boy's skin, rather they had merely bounced off his arms. "Ow, ..what the heck was that?" stammered Ra, pulling himself up off the ground. "Wh-How did you survive a gunshot at point blank?!" exclaimed the soldier, bewildered. "Well, however you did it, you'll have to do it again!" he said, reloading the gun. He quick-scoped at the boy, yet soon realized that his target was not in his line of sight. Before the soldier could ask where he went, though, he was silenced by a striking blow to the jaw. The soldier was blown off his feet backwards, yet he was caught before he hit the ground by the back of his neck. Ra Makimaki showed no mercy in fighting his opponent. The martial art of Lua was known to be savage and bone-breaking, and Ra showed just that in his usage of it. He preceded to slam the soldier into the ground face first, with the accompanying sound of neck bones breaking. The hapless soldier was left there, his blood turning the sand red, at the feet of this native boy. "What kind of monster is he?! Open fire!" commanded the Captain. The five soldiers took aim at the kid and released several rounds from their machine guns, yet this time, the shots took no affect. Ra was like a rock, the bullets like a mere rain. He simply faced the other soldiers while standing at their comrade's corpse. "Take your friend's body and leave this island forever. I will not warn you twice," he warned. "The UHN never surrenders," replied the Captain. "Then you leave me no choice," the young warrior replied. He made no haste as he made his way towards the soldiers as they continued to open fire on him. The first went down with a solid kick to the knee, causing it to bend backwards in a way it wasn't supposed to. A heel to the throat finished him off. Ra made use of his small stature, kicking the next soldier out from under him and meeting his falling figure with a punch with enough force to shatter his skull. One of the soldiers, realizing this was the end, tried to escape into the woods, yet Ra was on him before he could reach the first tree. The soldier tried firing at him again, which was also to no avail. Ra disarmed him with a hook to the shoulder followed by a chop at the side of the neck. He hit a pressure, point, rendering his neck and shoulder useless. The soldier tripped and fell, only to have his neck broken under Ra's punishing foot. Two more of the invaders were left, and these ones were not cowards like the last. One pulled out a small round object, pulled a pin out of it, and chucked it towards the murderous boy. Ra caught it, but he realized its intended use too late. The grenade exploded, blasting Ra backwards in a cloud of smoke. As the dust settled, it was revealed that Ra was only slightly dazed and got back up to finish his opponents. They tried more grenade, yet Ra easily avoided these ones. One, however, he did not avoid, and sent back to its receiver with a light tap from his tail. It exploded midair, the explosion reaching only the first soldier and knocking back the second. The first soldier lay there, dead, his blood and vitals draining out onto the sand in the mild tropical weather. The other one, the Captain, got back up. Shrapnel from the explosion had pierced his armor in various locations, breaking his skin as blood oozed from his wounds. He brushed dust off his uniform and put his gun down. "So, you know the ancient fighting technique of your people.. Lua. I've killed a few disciples of the art in the War, but never have I seen any man with your abilities, much less a kid. I know no firearms can hurt you, so why not we settle this with hand-to-hand combat?" the Captain said. He lifted his arms and put up a weak fighting stance. Ra caught the Captain's bluff; there was no way this man could have any intention to fight him with any expectation to win. Yet Ra wasn't the type to over think things, and he put up his stance as well. Out of good humor, Ra let the military Captain have the first swing, a weak right thrust aimed at Ra's head. The boy dodged it easily and shuffled to the side. The militant tried another punch, this time Ra parried the blow. Ra then went on the offensive, lunging out at the Captain's face. He instinctively put up an arm to defend, which proved to be the wrong move. Ra shattered the man's forearm with one hit, leaving the Captain on his knees, crying in pain. "In a child's match this would be your loss as you're on the ground, and seeing that you fight like one too, I'll let you leave if you promise to never return," Ra said, announcing his victory. The old man was broken and bitter, and with one arm, there was no way he could do what five of his men couldn't do together. "Th-The UHN never surrenders," ''he muttered through gritted teeth, facing down. "What was that?" asked Ra, having already turned his back on his opponent. "THE UHN NEVER SURRENDERS!" he shouted, a war cry. He pulled out a pocket knife from a holster on his leg with his one good hand and charged Ra. The boy had only to duck to evade the incoming attack. He squeezed between his legs and rolled out the other side. The Captain tripped and fell straight in the sand. He moved no more. Ra went over to his opponent to find that he was no longer breathing. Rolling him over, Ra saw that his knife had plunged deep into his heart, and instant kill. The wound was nearly bloodless, just a trickle from the sides. Palema'i, still cowering behind the stone as she had after the first shot, slowly peaked out to see the bodies of all six of the soldiers. She had never believed it was truly possible, yet this kid had single-handedly wiped out an entire Haole envoy. However, she didn't have much time to marvel at the kid's incredible fighting abilities. Only six soldiers had been killed, and a whole battleship remained docked in the harbor. Ra Makimaki stared down at the work of his hands, the corpses of six men. He had never killed a man before, yet his grandpa had shown him how if he had to. He had never imagined the feeling to be quite like this, but he hadn't had many options. Their deaths were a price to pay for invading his home and showing the intent to kill him too. Yet these men, they were really just dogs taking orders; they had fought to the death for something they cared about. They at least deserved to be buried, perhaps not a traditional burial, but at least be put in the ground. Ra began to dig six holes in the ground, one for each soldier. "What are you doing?" Palema'i asked him. "We've got to get out of here, more are bound to be on the way." "They at least deserve to be buried," Ra replied. Having dug the holes deep enough for the soldiers to be buried, Ra began to lay the first one in his grave. He then scooped the dirt back over the hole, forever entombing his body in the ground. As he proceeded with the the other soldiers, Palema'i grew increasingly impatient. "Just leave them! We have to go!" "You can go if you want, I'm staying right here," Ra replied. "You may be able to kill some of them, but you can't fight a ship," Palema'i told him. "We'll see about that." On the Haole battleship, the deaths of the first envoy were soon noticed by the ship's officers. "We have now confirmed the disappearances of each operative's life energy to be their deaths, with all probability to be caused by the two other sources on the island," said one officer. "I've reevaluated the energy levels for one of the sources. He appears to be a young male native with an energy level of 17. During his presumed skirmish with our envoy, though, his energy level shot up significantly several times, maxing at a level of 103," said another. "What do you plan on doing, Admiral Caeruleum?" "...Train missiles on the island. Prepare another envoy 13 strong. I will lead this one," said a shadowy figure. Raising from his chair, he stood taller than his subordinates, with high cheek bones, piercing blue eyes, and blond hair. "Yes, sir. Right away," replied his officers, bowing to him. "There'll be no obstacle in the way of my goals," said the fierce Admiral, staring intently out the view dock of the battleship's control room. Below him he saw the bow of his ship, decked with artillery and cannons, manned by the nation's top seamen. Beyond that was a small stretch of the crystal blue waters that were famous in this part of the world, lapping gently at the white sand shore with an occasional larger wave. He looked coolly at the tiny island before him; this was one of the islands that were un-mapped, one of the countless infinity of pebbles dotting the mighty seas. This Admiral cared not for this tiny island, or that some native punk had the ability to kill six soldiers of the UHN with ease. This Admiral was famed for his brutality and strength, for he had learned in the ways of his own people's fighting skills and was known far and wide as the strongest fighter in all the Haole's military. Admiral Caeruleum would not be defeated on a rock in the middle of nowhere by some bottom-dwelling native. He would crush all opponents to his will. The Admiral of the Stormy Seas Ra had just finished burying the deceased soldiers in the sands of his island when he looked back out to the battleship. He noticed that yet another small boat was coming out from it, this one packed to the brim with men, much more than the last. "See, kid? That's what I was talking about! C'mon, we've got to go! My boat can outrun them long enough for us to get to the nearest city!" Palema'i told the warrior. Yet Ra was not listening. Something about one of the men on that boat, the one standing tall at its brim, gave him an off-feeling. It was as if he radiated power, and Ra could feel it. He was not like the others at all. Just the sight of him made Ra's hair stand on end. He wasn't sure he could beat this guy. "Go if you want. I'm facing this guy," the kid said. "Listen, kid, there's thirteen of them. It's cool that you can do martial arts and all, and maybe you killed a few of them, but that doesn't mean you can take out everyone there! There's an entire Navy of them, you're just a kid in a loincloth. We've got to go!" Palema'i said, trying to persuade him. "I don't see why you think I'm coming, this is my island. If you're just trying to use me for protection, then you're staying right here, because I'm not going anywhere," Ra replied firmly. The child had made up his mind, he'll face as many men as he had to, but he wasn't running. He wasn't leaving his island, he would defend it. "You.. You're crazy, kid," Palema'i said. "The name is Ra, lady. Ra Makimaki," Ra said. He realized that he hadn't told her his name. Now was as good a time as any, he guessed. "Okay then, Ra.. You'd better know what you're doing.." said Palema'i. Despite bearing witness to Ra's incredible power, she still had no hope that he'd be able to take down these men. Whether or not Ra was ready didn't matter, as the second envoy had just reached the shore. Staring down the two youths were thirteen highly armored men, with red camouflage rather than green, as if to signal them being a higher rank or special forces. Leading them was a tall man dressed in a standard Navy uniform rather than the full armor get up. His military-cut blond hair stood stiff in the wind as he seemed to look straight through them with piercing blue eyes. Wordlessly, he stepped from the boat onto the sand, his soldiers following them. Wherever he went, the sky seemed to darken, as if he was surrounded by a hue of a cold blue. "You have approximately ten seconds to surrender," the leader said, "but seeing that you've already defied our rule once, I doubt that you'd stop now." "You're right about that," Ra said. Though he was nervous, he tried to act with an air of confidence amongst his opponent. "So, you'll be defiant to the end. I'm fine with that," he said. "Men, stand at guard in case they try to escape. I'll deal with the runt alone," he commanded at his soldiers. They formed a ring around them, blocking them from the sea. Their guns were aimed inwards, ready to kill Ra or Palema'i if this battle turned south. "Before I defeat you and haul your indignant corpse back to the capital, I may as well tell you who you're facing. You stand before the great Admiral Caeruleum, the commander of every ship under UHN rule in the world. It was your misfortune to happen to mess with the wrong ship," said the Admiral. "I don't care who you are, no one is taking me from my home. I'll die first," said Ra. "That last part is right, boy," said the Admiral. Like that, he stood straight up, as if waiting to be hit. "C'mon boy, I'll let you take the first hit." Ra took the offer. He charged at the man and attempted to grapple his knee to make him lose his balance. The Admiral easily sidestepped the attack. "C'mon, is that the best you've got? I've fought with people that know you're technique, Lua. I've defeated them all," he mocked. "I'm only getting started," Ra said. He charged again, launching himself at the Admiral's face. He went to punch him in the face, yet the Admiral beat him to it. By merely raising his hand into a fist and placing it before him, he effectively slugged Ra in the face with only the boy's own momentum. Ra crumpled down onto the ground, breathing heavily. Ra struggled to stand back up, crushed by the blow. In a traditional spar, Ra would already be defeated for falling. The Admiral showed no signs of being done with the fight, though, so Ra had no choice but to keep fighting. He realized that he was bleeding from his nose and and a gash on his forehead. This had never happened before, and Ra quickly became worried. The chances of him winning this fight dwindle by the minute. "Do you give up?" sneered the Admiral. "I won't lose," Ra muttered. He charged again, yet this time the Admiral wasn't playing the defensive. He leaped over the speeding boy and delivered a kick to his back midair, sending the boy crashing down. Caeruleum placed his foot over the boy's heaving body and clamped down. "Surrender now, or I'll crush your ribs!" he threatened. Ra couldn't give a response, so the Admiral prepared to give the finishing blow. "Wait!" came a voice. The Admiral turned to see it had been the girl, Palema'i. "W-We surrender! Take us prisoner, just please don't kill him!" Palema'i exclaimed. The Admiral looked over this girl, another local, yet she was one of the civilized ones. Though poised to kill this whelp, he reasoned that he had no need to have this boy's blood stain his boots. They'd be better rotting in prison camps for the time being than provoking more locals to resist them. The Admiral removed his boot from the kid's near-lifeless body. "Alright, restrain these whelps and lock them in the hold! Set course for the Mainland, we will dock at Gallia!" commanded the Admiral. Four soldiers immediately detached from the rest of the squadron, two grabbing Ra's limp body and the other two to restrain Palema'i. They were both handcuffed, with a few additional chains for Ra to account for his power even when he was knocked out. Ra was carried off into the small boat and Palema'i was ushered in. The Admiral stepped on last and gave the command to head back to the ship. As the boat departed towards the massive, looming battleship, Ra regained consciousness just long enough to see his island growing smaller in his eyes as he got farther and farther away. No sound left his bloody lips; he couldn't make even the faintest whisper. All he saw was that he was doing something he had dreamed of doing for a long time: finally leaving the island on a journey. Some dream. Only a God Can Save You Ra awoke sitting against a hard, cold surface. His hands and feet were bound in chains, which given time he would probably be able to snap apart, if it were not for the feeling of being a hollow husk. He could barely make out anything beyond him except for that they were not alone. A handful of other figures sat chained to various positions on the walls of a dank cell. Most were hunched over, sleeping. Looking around, Ra saw that one figure next to him was Palema'i. Suddenly, he remembered where he was and what had happened. They had been taken by the United Haole Nations as prisoners. Ra had been beaten utterly by the Admiral; he had never seen such brute strength. Ra looked to his left, the side opposite of Palema'i. Sitting hunched over was an adolescent figure, not much older in appearance than Palema'i. This one wasn't asleep, just staring down at nothing, as if viewing a perpetual void. This boy, Ra was certain that he was a boy, had lighter skin like the Haoles, but not quite as light. Dark bags hung under his green eyes. His skin was stretched thin over his gaunt face; he looked to be starved. The boy must have not eaten in weeks. This pale figure then turned his head towards Ra. Ra could see the hunger in his eyes, and the tortured soul beyond them. "Can I help you, native?" he spat. Even the Haole prisoners of war had racial prejudices. "What are you here for? Aren't you one of them?" Ra asked. He didn't know better than to ask questions such as that. "A Haole? Yeah, I'm from there. Am I white? No, not entirely. I'm a fourth local," he said. "But that's enough to be seen as a monster still." Their was pain in his voice, as if terrible memories were haunting him. "What did you do?" asked Ra. The boy gave no reply, just sat there, returning to staring blankly at the steel floor before him. Beside him, a light grunt signaled the awakening of Palema'i. She looked like a mess, with baggy eyes and drool creeping down her mouth. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes were torn up here and there. Before Ra could say anything, he was interrupted by a rude greeting. Blinding white lights shone on from above, disrupting Ra's vision. Before he even had a chance to wonder how there could be light like this indoors, the Admiral appeared from beyond the steel bars of the cell. "Well, I see you've regained your consciousness, boy. Good, because you're gonna want to get your first sight of the UHN. It'll be your last, as killing UHN soldiers in punishable only by death. I have only postponed your execution. Now rest up, it'll only be a few hours now," he said. With that, he went back up a stair case and shut the porthole that opened to the rest of the ship. "We'll be entering Maelstrom now," muttered the gaunt boy next to Ra. "What's that?" Ra asked him. "It's an eternal storm surrounding the Haole continent. The waves can reach hundreds of feet, the currents threaten to rip any ship apart, and hurricane winds batter from every direction. Only the strongest of ships can cross it, and only the Haoles own them," he replied. "How do you know so much?" Ra asked. The boy sat silent once again, before clearing his throat. "Because I grew up there, on the Haole continent. I was raised as one of them." Before Ra could think of something to say to this kid, the boat took a violent lurch to the right. Everyone was thrown to the side, with one prisoner smashing his head against the wall and falling limp. "Yep, this is the Maelstrom alright," coughed the boy. However, a contradiction to that statement soon blared over the intercom. "ENEMY APPROACHING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ALL HANDS ON DECK," came the voice. Red lights began flashing along with a blaring alarm. "An attack? Who the heck would attack a Haole battleship?!" exclaimed the boy. His question hung awkwardly in the air, unanswered in silence as the alarm and red lights suddenly stopped. The eerie quiet was soon broke with an equally eerie creaking sound. Suddenly, a large, booming sound like metal bending and crashing tore through the eardrums of the prisoners. They were met with the sensation of falling as the cell literally tore out from the side of the ship, giving them the view of the ship on fire. No enemy ship was on sight. However, their was a bright, orange glow that was somehow different than the raging flames bursting from the deck. It emanated from one source and shone brilliantly, almost like some kind of aura. Their view was soon obstructed as they crashed down into the ocean. Seawater poured in through the iron bars, flooding the cell. The brine stung their eyes as it continued to rise in the cell. Soon the whole chamber would be submerged. Ra took only a few seconds to react. With some struggling, he snapped his bonds and scurried over to Palema'i as the cell tumbled over end on end. He managed to snap her's as well as the cell was soon half filled. The unlucky prisoners who were at the end of the cell were stuck floating in the water, kept just a foot from the surface by their chains. Ra took one last look as he saw the boy he was talking to. He had found some sort of needle or pick and was digging furiously at the key hole on his cuffs. Just then, the cell tumbled over again, fully flooding it. Ra pulled Palema'i up and grabbed the bars. With one hand he began bending the cell open. He soon ran out of air, and with the last ounce of his strength he broke through the cell. Luckily Ra was adept enough at swimming to loft himself and Palema'i up to the surface. They both came up sputtering and gasping for air. Ra found a plank of wood from the wreckage and swam to it with Palema'i in tow. Looking up once he had a grasp on the plank, he saw the ship. The battleship was split in half and covered in flames, even spreading the fires somehow onto the ocean. A few life boats had managed to escape, yet they were being picked off by something. Looking closer, he saw a figure surrounded by an orange glow. Ra realized that this must be the same source as the other orange light that they saw before they went below. The figure stood on an outrigger. The form, coated in muscles, paddled the craft with incredible strength, a job usually taking a full team of rowers being accomplished by one man. He made his way to another life raft. He was quickly met with gunfire, yet the bullets didn't seem to affect him. With one mighty blow, he sunk their raft and sent its crew underwater. Just behind them, Ra heard bubbling and a gasp emerging from the water's surface. The head of the boy who had been next to Ra in the cell had just bobbed up, gasping for air. "Come over here!" Ra called out. Following his voice, the boy paddled over to the plank to take a break from treading water. The boy, with his eyes shut tight, coughed up the salty water and heaved heavily. "You made it out!" Ra exclaimed, short of breath himself. "No thanks to you," muttered the boy. He did, though, forget to mention that it ''was Ra who bent the jail cell bars out of place. "Sorry, I thought you had it on your own," Ra told him. "You're safe now, though." "Safe? We're sitting ducks in the ocean, about a mile away from the strongest storm in the world, waiting to be picked off by some living flame," the boy told Ra. Just as he said that, the outrigger bearing said living flame had turned in the direction of the three survivors. The man piloting it began to make his way towards them at a fast pace. "Well, I guess it's been nice knowing you," said the boy to Ra and Palema'i. "Wait, we don't even know your name," Palema'i said. "The name's Lux. Lux Hakea," he said. "I'm Ra, and this is Palema'i," Ra said. "Well, Ra, do you believe in God? Because you're about to meet him," Lux said. Upon those words the outrigger came to a stop at the trio's floating plank. Its pilot stood above them at a staggering height, bearing incredible muscles and bathed in an orange glow. Then, as if seeing a mirage, he began to shrink. His form shrunk until he stood at about the height of a teenage boy, bearing the looks of one as well. He was clearly a local, judged by his darker, sun-weathered skin tone. Several tribal tattoos denoting manhood sprawled about his still-muscular arms and chest. The beginnings of a beard began to grow out of his chiseled chin. His eyes were drilled deep in their sockets, with each bearing an iris of gold. "Who are you?" Lux shakily asked. The glowing man looked down at these three children, drifting at his feet. Then a smile broke his face, and he began to laugh. "Have I been gone for so long that all mortals have forgotten who I am?" he asked in a booming voice which didn't seem to fit his now youthful body. "Fear not, keiki(5), for I mean no harm. I sensed the presence of humans imprisoned on the ship, so I decided to give these haoles a little lesson on how things are run here on Earth," he said. "Wait, what do you mean, humans? We're all humans, even the Haoles, right?" asked Palema'i, confused. "Ah, it seems the knowledge of history has been distorted here; the tale of the Harore has ceased to been told," replied the stranger. "What's a Harore? Ra asked. "Patience, young one. All questions will be answered soon. But for now, let me take us to a nearby island," said the man. The orange glow that surrounded his body began to expand, and in a flash of white light the four of them disappeared. Blinking the light out of their eyes, they soon saw themselves to be somewhere different entirely. Narrow streets and faded, rundown houses filled their view as people milled about, some startled at the sudden appearance of four youths. These people were not Haoles, yet locals, as denoted by being the more "civilized" of the people of the islands. "Follow me," he said, leading the group down the main street. After taking several turns, they soon found themselves overlooking a beach. Polynesian / Indonesian Words (1): Hale (hŏ-lā) : Hawai'ian for house or home, generally refers to the huts that they lived in prior to Western contact. (2): 'Olo (ō-lō) : ancient Hawai'ian wood surfboard used in ceremonial and recreational practices reserved for the ali'i, or chiefs. (3): Lua (lu-a) : an ancient Hawai'ian form of martial art and dance, once reserved for only the elites. Now it is restricted to only pure Hawai'ians in an effort to keep the tradition alive. One of the predecessor to hula dancing. (4): Haole (how-lē) : a term in Hawai'ian meaning "without light, lacking light." It is used in modern day tenses as a derogatory word for white people by locals of the Hawai'ian islands due to the destruction caused by the encounter between Caucasians and Polynesians. (5): Keiki (kā-kē) : the Hawai'ian word for child (singular) or children (plural).Category:StoryCategory:GozonCategory:Fan FictionCategory:FanonCategory:Dragon Ball Fan FictionCategory:StoriesCategory:Mo'o 'Ala